Bulleh Shah, Master of Paradox by Raj Ayyar

A great master of paradox, of both..and, as well as neither/nor logic, Bulleh Shah is one of the outstanding mystical voices in Indian Sufi Islam, inviting comparison with Rumi, Hafiz and Kabir.
I love the fact that his complex neither-nor logic includes atheism as an option–not typical in the Sufi or other mystical traditions.

‘The day before, Bulleh Shah was an atheist.
He worshipped idols yesterday.
Bulleh loves the Muslim and salutes the Hindu.
I know not who I am.
I am neither a believer going to the mosque,
nor a non-believer.
I am neither among sinners, nor among saints.
I belong neither to water, fire, nor air.
I know not who I am.
Nor am I born of Adam and Eve,
I have given myself no name.
–Bulleh Shah: The Mystic Muse tr. K.S. Duggal

Bulleh Shah belongs to that great company of world mystics (circa 17th cent.), who deconstruct and mock all culturally programmed labels, all modes of separatist naming, that bestow a clear-cut religious or non-religious identity. He lived in the state of Punjab, centuries before the Partition, often near present day Lahore in Pakistan. He had a great respect for Sikhism, and embraced Sikhism, Islam and Hinduism, while at the same time refusing to be identified as any of that, or even as a ‘theist’. As he frankly claims in the quoted passage, he has his atheistic as well as his theistic days!